St Ives man cautioned for 'harassing' parking warden

7:00am Wednesday 4th June 2014

A St Ives man has been given a police caution for harassing one of Cornwall Council’s parking wardens by, "filming the officer and then posting the film on the internet".

The incidents took place in Wharf Road, St Ives on 4 and 5 March when the Council officer was approached and subsequently "harassed by a member of the public while he was carrying out his duties in the town", said Cornwall Council.

This included "filming the officer and then posting the film on the internet" according to the council.

The member of the public, who has not been named, has now been formally cautioned by Devon and Cornwall Police.

The incident happened on March 4, the same day a St Ives man won the support of many people in the town for confronting a parking officer who he believed was illegally parking in a disabled spot in the town.

Grant Curnow was concerned about double standards after seeing a council van parked in a marked disabled spot in the Sloop car park with no valid ticket on the van.

In the video Mr Curnow confronts the warden, who was about to ticket a vehicle and asks him if he is going to ticket himself.

A video on youtube showing the incident had been watched thousands of times, however it is now 'not available'.

At the time Cornwall Council said that despite the space being marked as for disabled drivers, the parking warden "was not parking illegally as the disabled parking bay had been relocated and we were waiting for the disabled emblem to be removed."

A police caution is a formal warning given by the police to an adult offender aged 18 years or over and who has admitted that they are guilty of an offence.

Cornwall Council says it is currently developing a "Zero Tolerance" initiative as a result of an increase in the number of incidents involving abuse.

This initiative is due to be launched in July.

“We acknowledge that the vast majority of people that we have dealings with are civil and polite” said the Council’s Chief Executive Andrew Kerr.

“However we will not accept any form of abuse towards our staff who are carrying out their daily duties and will take appropriate measures to support them, including prosecution”.